Boston Red Sox shortstop Trevor Story returned to action for the first time since May 14 on Sunday, making the first start of a minor league rehab assignment.
Story, who underwent surgery on a sports hernia on May 22, played shortstop and batted second for the Triple-A Worcester Red Sox against the Buffalo Bisons. He played four innings, going 1-for-2 with a single as he looks to ease back into live pitching after the three-month layoff.
In his first at-bat to begin the game, Story fell in a 0-2 hole but battled back to see nine pitches, fouling off four and seeing two off the plate before flying out to center field. He saw some action on the infield in the top of the second inning, gloving a line drive hit to him at shortstop for the out.
In his second at-bat, Story saw just one strike before turning on a pitch from Buffalo right-hander Spencer Arrighetti and shooting it by the diving shortstop into the outfield for a base hit. This was the WooSox first hit of the game in the bottom of the fourth and opened things up for Mikey Romero, who hit a two-run homer immediately after.
Story was replaced by Tsung-Che Cheng at short to start the fifth, but said after the game that a few long defensive innings were good for him to get his "game legs back."
He added that while the plan was to get three at-bats in his first game back, it was "probably smart" to pull him earlier considering the amount of work he got with Buffalo tagging Worcester for nine runs in the first four innings.
The 33-year-old struggled in his time with the big-league club before surgery, slashing .206/.244/.303 in 41 games. The Red Sox have exercised a number of options at shortstop in his place, but none have been able to string together the combination of quality offense and defense required to earn the full-time role.
How Story will factor into the infield upon his return is still unknown, but he said he is looking forward to the opportunity to help the team now that they are in a playoff hunt.
"That's the goal," he said (via Tommy Cassell of Worcester T&G Sports on X). "Come back in and, like we did last year, play in the playoffs and make a run. We've shown what we can do, and we have some more key pieces coming back... excited to fit back into the mix."
Story is the first of three Red Sox who are slated for rehab assignments this week, with left fielder Roman Anthony scheduled to go on Tuesday with Double-A Portland and infielder Isiah Kiner-Falefa joining Story in Worcester on Wednesday.
For Story, who will play again in Syracuse on Tuesday, the rehab assignment will be as much about his performance as it is about his health. With his poor play at the start of the year and blossoming young shortstop prospect Franklin Arias knocking on the door, Story will have to prove that he can contribute at the level he did last season to have a place on the team for the stretch run and into October.
